BL07 Differentiating Instruction through Technology (S. Allen)

Tracey McGrath & Brandon Lutz
School District of Philadelphia

Presentation website: http://teach20.wikispaces.com/DIPD
Presenters used Google form to assess participants knowledge of DI and gather participant information. (Link - Differentiated Knowledge Interest Survey)
Defined differentiated instruction.
Focus areas (how you can differentiate) - content/process/product
Learn about the learners - readiness (background knowledge, skills), interests, learning profile
Classroom considerations - time/resources/access/materials/curriculum

Getting started - Get to know your kids first!!

• KWL charts - readiness assessment
• pre-assessment (interest or readiness)
• interest inventories
• personality profiles
• Google apps - Hempfield has student domain and teacher domain

Sample lessons

• Exploring Poetry - assigned roles - artist, musician, writer, researcher
  • product was podcast
• Choice boards - American Revolution - student choices...work individually, with a partner, with a small group
  • Options on boards - jeopardy game, newspaper, song or rap, radio show podcast, multimedia presentation, skit, timeline using Inspiration, comic strip
• Content podcasts - The Pythagorean Theorem
  • http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.2813 teacher features - lessons are featured here using interactive whiteboards
• Cell structures - using Voicethread - vote one cell part out of the cell
  • http://mrsmaineswiki.wikispaces.com/Cells
  • give students accounts under teacher account in Voicethread

Tools

• Online collaboration tools
  • videoconferencing - iChat, Skype, Polycom, Elluminate
  • Wikis - only one student can work on a page on a time
  • Blogs
  • Ning
  • Google Apps
  • Yugma
  • Online whiteboards
  • Kids Teach - Helping each other learn together
• Global online collaboration - can google these projects
  • Math Connections
  • Hugocabret Book Blog
  • Poetry collaboration
  • Follow Me Project- classroom to classroom, home to home, school to school, world connections - stuffed animal travels and host adds content to wiki/blog/photo site
• How do collaborations differentiate instruction? Allows choices for students in the product they create.
  • writing in blog
  • photography
  • create podcasts and vodcast
  • web 2.0 tools
  • create their own projects
  • share what they have learned in class
• Create your own Follow Me Project
  • Create your own project - school, class, family
• Webquests
  • Webquests about webquests
  • The Great Plant Escape
  • Filamentality
• Translators
• Digital Storytelling
  • Kid pix
  • Garageband
  • Photobooth (create images)
  • iMovie
  • DiscoveryEducation (source of content & digital storytelling resources)
  • NetTrekker (source of content)
• Web 2.0 Digital Storytelling Tools
  • Comic brush
  • Easybib.com - We use Noodle Bib at Hempfield. Talk to your librarian for more information.
  • Voicethread (education site)
  • Bubble Share
  • Sumo Paint
  • Gcast
• Digital storytelling ideas
• Paint tools
  • Sumo paint
  • Others on presentation site
• Presentation Tools
• Screencasting - capture whiteboard presentation/content
• Visual Literacy
  • Kidspiration
  • Mind42 - allows for collaboration
  • My Webspiration
  • Comic Life
  • Wordle
  • Glogster
• Survey and Polling Tools
  • Zoho polls
  • Google forms
  • Survey Monkey
  • Poll Daddy
  • Poll Everywhere - can use cell phone to respond
• Under resources - Cast Resource is very good.